Ages – Erin Schalk

(i)

You looked like a boy

in that photo from

thirteen years ago,

the energetic flush in your cheeks,

your generous lips which wreathed

a spacious smile that

mirrored mine,

beaming,

yet

self-conscious —

(ii)

You looked like a boy

in your unmarked eyes,

their innocence revealed

in gentle arcs, now bent by

the wisdom’s weight as

it lines their corners,

and forms

your stippled, silver crown.

(iii)

Behind us sat

a child,

who is now

our age,

(iv)

then,

a young boy

not unlike our own.

Erin Schalk is a hybrid writer, visual artist and insatiable world traveler.  She has published her poetry in journals throughout the United States since 2016.  She is also a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Find more of her work at www.erinschalk.com.